Bleriot-Whippet

Overview

The A.N.E.C. built Bleriot and Spad aircraft during World War I, and to keep the factory going after the war they took up a cyclecar designed by George Herbert Jones and W.D. Marchant. The most interesting aspect of this was the Zenith-Gradua belt transmission, an infinitely variable system using vee-belts and movable pulleys. This had been used on motorcycles made by Zenith, for which the two men worked. The cyclecar was named Bleriot-Whippet, after the aircraft, and there was no other connection with the more ephemeral French cyclecar of the same name. Jones and Marchant soon improved this unit, with roller bearing big ends. The cars had ash frames and 2-seater bodies made in tourer and sports versions, Jones left to work with Granville Bradshaw in 1921, but the cars were steadily developed, gaining chain drive and then shaft drive. However, they could not compete with cars such as the Austin Seven, and production ended in 1927.